New Project

So I have decided to try something new... a "crafty" blog. For the past few months I have been storing Ideas (crafts, recipes, decor, tutorials, etc) on a private blog so I could have the great ideas saved and indexed from all the HUNDREDS of blogs I follow. That way I could always have them handy. I have used it a TON already!

Well I figure I should make it available to all if I am getting so much use out of it. So check out my new blog: My Inspiration Index.

There are not a ton of post on there yet because I need to go back and re-work all the posts (from my private one) in order to give credit where credit it do... meaning link up to and use proper blog etiquette (since before on my private blog it didn't matter). But I will try to update it often (like three times a week) with great ideas from the blogosphere.

Who knows... maybe this will turn into a business for me... but for now it just way to store great ideas for myself and ANYONE else who cares.

Confessions of a Med School Wife

Yes it is true... Chris is a slave to school..haha! So these past three weeks Chris has had a test EVERY week (compared to the every two to three weeks). Hence, since they are usually on Mondays, I have had to try and entertain myself the past three weekends. So Here are some things that I have done to try and keep myself busy:

• Watching a lot of girly TV shows and movies

• Cooking and Baking...tried a great new recipe for these Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Balls that Chris loved since they reminded him of a treat he would always buy in Chile on his Mission
• Going to the temple with my Sister-in-law, Kristy

• Having some fellow med-school wives over to hang out
• Made a lot of hand-outs and planned a bunch for Young Womens

• Added many blogs (especially Craft and Cooking ones) to my Google Reader after doing some blog hopping. From this I added a lot to my growing list of things I want to make!

• Followed through on some of those things.... (see below)
  

Made These Sock Monsters. They were lost of fun to make.. I wish I only had a sewing machine so that I could make them a WHOLE lot faster. I plan on making a lot more!

Here is a Felt Flower Headband I made for my niece Libby to wear when she has her blessing

Some more Headbands I made for a baby gift

This onesie and pants I used fusing to attach the cute paisley material on and then hand stitched around it. These are to match the head bands.

So hopefully Chris won't have to many more long stretches like this without a break... for his sanity and MINE!!

I won, I won, I won!

Hip-hip-hooray... I finally won a GIVEAWAY!

So I occasionally enter some of the many great giveaways on some of the "craft-y" blogs I follow and this morning I found a email in my inbox saying I won! I was thrilled, especially since the prize is soooo beautiful. I cannot wait to write lovely notes on such beautiful stationary.

I highly recommend you check out the site I won from, Good Gravy!

yummmm.....Recipes

So, I can't remember if I posted this before but the girls on Chris's side of the family started a recipe blog. Let me tell you that my sisters-in-law are quite talented domestic goddesses and can cook up a storm. We hadn't updated it in a long time, but I asked my S.I.L Katie to send me the electronic copy of her mom's "infamous" Red Book Recipes.

So I just added all of these recipes to the blog so feel free to check them out. There are some great ones to try. Chris loves like ALL of the main dishes from his mom, especially Chicken South of the Border and we make Chicken Stroganoff all the time!

ALSO...
If you have any quick, CHEAP, dinner recipes that are a HIT in your house... email me the recipe!! I am definatly in a recipe RUT!

I wish I was a tech geek...

So yesterday while Chris was studying away for his next exam on Monday-there went our weekend :)- I spent some time figuring out some more things for on our blog.

I hate to admit it but I wish I was a HTML/java script guru so I could totally do what every I want to my blog. I wish I wasn't such a slave to other people's genius! So from browsing a site I learned some more tips. Now to some of you this may seen meager... but I felt pretty good about figuring some of this stuff out.

For example... I was able to find the EXACT COLORS for my fonts, etc. to match our header. I was also to adapt the line breaks between posts and sidebar, and take away the boarders on the header and pictures, instead of either having all or nothing with it. Lastly...my FAVORITE addition is the icon in the internet browser. So instead of the blogger symbol next to the http it is out "J" from our header!

In another life maybe I would have been a tech geek!

tag-you're-it

I WAS TAGGED by my dearest pal Camille!

So here are the rules:

1. You link back to the person who tagged you
2. Post these rules on your blog
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself
4. Tag six random people at the end of your entry
5. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs
6. Enjoy the results!

THING ONE: Thanks to Camille and one of her things... I have always wanted a black eye... but have yet to receive one. I have almost gone to resorts of having someone punch me in the face. I believe it steams from wanting cool battle wounds and maybe a little bit of attention...I'm not gonna lie.

THING TWO: I have been without my appendix since I was three... and unfortunately that was back in the days when they didn't have scopes to do the surgery... so I have quite a hefty scar on my abdomen. However, I am pretty proud of the scar... I mean its a battle wound!

THING THREE: I really enjoy playing with children's toys. I was so excited when we adopted my little brother... so I had toys to play with. And now I am very grateful for my cute nieces and nephews who supply me with a plethora of toys. Maybe that is why I went into Elementary Ed.

THING FOUR: I have a fear of "pods"... not things like iPods or those portable storage things... but there are a certain class of flora and fauna that really freak me out if I look at them too long... and I have chosen the work "pods" to best describe these things. For example, my mom used to have a dried wreath in our house with this plant things that had all these holes in it with little ball type things inside... it is every hard for me to type that because it gives me the creeps.

THING FIVE: I am defiantly a "boys" girl... or maybe a tom-boy. For example, I would rather lift weights with my husband at the gym then go do cardio (or even classes) with all the rest of my sex. Also, I would rather have all boys if I could choose. I feel in love with men's clothing/furnishings when I worked at Nordstrom. I love to do tough-guy things like "battle-tube", play football, jump of cliffs, etc.

THING SIX: My friends in high school used to call me a 45 year old man, because I used to every morning listen to NPR (National Public Radio) while I got ready and then read the paper as I ate breakfast and then read a novel every time I went to bed. I also enjoy old people things like word finds and sudoku. I hope pick back up this routine when we get situated and employed again. I mean all I need to complete the package is a blue striped bathrobe, loafer slippers and a pipe!

I hate making people feel obligated to do this... so I tag anyone who wants too. It is just SUPER fun to read these random things about people.

New Backgrounds

I added about 6 new blog backgrounds to my other blog.

You can see them here.

Here is one of my new favorites...

My New Hobby

Ok.. I have been a little distracted by my new hobby, hence the somewhat lack of posts.

I sometimes wonder if I should have been a computer geek or a graphic designer... so this hobby lets me combine these things. (However, I think my husband may not be totally in love with this new hobby, too time consuming at the moment... ha!)

Thus I have started a new blog with blog designs/templates. I definatly am not a pro but am working hard to make them as cute as possible. So here is the site... jonesblogdesign.blogspot.com

Please visit and feel free to use all you want and tell your friends! Just leave me a comment so I know which ones you like. Also feel free to make as MANY suggestions as you like. Like I said I am still learning.

Happy July

I thought I would spruce up the blog with a new fun Summer-y background!

Chris thinks I spent way too much time doing this but I throughly enjoy it... I almost wish I could create blog background for a living! HA! I had fun trying to figure out this new paint program I downloaded to make this background.

Anyway...

HAPPY SUMMER!

My new best friend... Google Reader

Ok for those who have yet to experience Google Reader, you must! Here are my three, very strong, reasons why you should try it out:

1. It saves time. See Google Reader (GR) is a place where you can "subscribe" to any website you like. In my case... thousands of my favorite blogs! You simply just put in the web address and then GR does the rest. When you log on to GR, much like gmail, you have an "inbox" of new items... thus meaning any new posts that have been put up since you have been on last. You then can just scan through all the new blogs without every having to leave this page. So hence it saves me TONS of time so that I don't have to click on all the links on my sidebar to look at all the blogs.
   
2. It is really easy to use. It took me seconds to get it all set up, the only somewhat time consuming part in copying all the websites in for the first time. Also you can easily make folders for different categories of blogs and websites.
   
3. It makes blog "browsing" so much easier. Ok, some of you may refer to blog browsing as blog stalking... but I think that is a bit of a harsh term. And admit it, you all browse random people's blogs. I mean if it was meant to be private they wouldn't publish it publicly on the internet, right? Also, how many times have you found a cute blog or someone you "kinda" know (but are too afraid to add to your link of friends) and then can never find your way back to it. Well know when you find these you simply just copy and paste away and they will be on your GR!
   

*the only downer of GR is that some websites (even some blogs) won't work, but very few. Also, it shows the blog posts just on a plain white background, so you don't get to see all the cute backgrounds, so you still will have to surf the blogs on your own once and awhile.

Hopefully you can find GR just as helpful as I do.

This n' That

So I will admit is was blog "stalking" a little bit today (come on... admit it, you do it too!) and I came across the some really fun sites...

So here is the result of some of my blog "stalking"

Crafty Chicks is just a fun site with a variety of crafty ideas, including some recipes too! It helps inspire me...even though I will probably never follow through on the ideas.

Sweet Life in the Valley is another great site for all us Utah Valley dwellers (even though we won't be for much longer).

Karen's Tips is just a girl of some friends I know who post frequently and imparts little bits of knowledge. It is especially loaded with great baby/kids stuff (but don't worry I am not in need of this knowledge yet).

Hopefully you can enjoy these sites too!

Also our weekend has been filled with alot of great movies, oldies and goodies!
Here is what we watched:

Cutting Edge: some of you may have seen part of the cutting edge marathon on ABC family this weekend. But seriously the first and original is the only one worth watching.



Swing Kids: This is a great classic, where you can see Batman (Christain Bale) dance his little heart out.




Sneakers: I had never seen this movie, Chris made me watch it, but i am glad he did, it is a great flick!



August Rush: Ok, we didn't watch this onehis weekend but we LOVE it and it came out yesterday, we will have to go out and buy a copy of it. If you haven't seen it, you MUST!

I wish I had the time and supplies to be this crafty.

So I have been inspired by quite a few various valentine crafts, cards, etc. However, like the title says... I wish I only had the time and the money to get all the supplies to try these crafts out.
Here are some cute ideas I found:these paper cones would be great for giving small gifts....
this cards caption was "we make the perfect pear" cute huh?!?
ok this is actually meant to be a christmas wreath but I think it is much more fitting for v-day!


This was as creative I got this V-day... I saw the "wild thing.. I think i love you" on another card and it automatically reminded me of my favorite childhood book "where the wildthings are" so I meshed these two things together. I will probably give this to Chris as his V-day card, although he will probably see this, but oh well...its the thought that counts.
Tell what v-day crafts you love!!